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ST. CATHARINES - Looking through one of Sam Bellhouse's windows, the grass really does look greener on the other side.

Chalk it up to the polarizing effect of the optically clear film that Bellhouse has been installing on windows throughout the region.

It really does make grass look greener when you look through it, he said.

But the greener side may just be the one where not a blade of grass will be found.

At least, that's what a class of Grade 3 students at Edith Cavell School in St. Catharines will be trying to determine after Bellhouse and his Welland-based Evolution Window Films installed solar control films Friday on classroom windows as part of green-tinged pilot project.

The films, Bellhouse said, will block heat in the summer, retain it in the winter and keep out nearly all harmful ultra-violet rays.

Being a classroom with a western exposure, there will be plenty of both UV and heat rays to cut down on, he noted. Depending on the circumstances, indoor temperatures can be cut by 15°C.

"It will protect the kids and the classroom and blocking all of that heat will save on energy costs," Bellhouse said.

The film, which costs $11 a square foot, is more than a feel-good donation by Bellhouse.

It's being turned into a life lesson for students.

In the week leading up the installation, Bellhouse supplied students with infrared thermometers to measure the temperature on surfaces in the room as it basked in the afternoon sun.

They'll do the same in their post-window filmed room and compare the results, graphing them for a math project, all in an effort to make them more eco-conscious.

"They don't understand things like the greenhouse effect and greenhouse gasses, so you have to break it down," Bellhouse said.